We woke up to horror once again…Texas school shooting leaves 19 children and 3 adults, including the shooter, dead. We read that 18-year-old Uvalde High School student Salvador Ramos shot and killed 19 children and 2 adults. Innocent little children. Murdered.

Why? We cry out. What did these children ever do to Salvador Ramos? How does an 18-year-old high school student become so filled with rage, hate, or revenge that he would murder small children? Since law enforcement officers shot and killed Mr. Ramos, we will never know.

His State of Mind? A Speculation

While we may never know the state of mind of Mr. Ramos, we do have a clue. One news report said he posted “disturbing images” online before the shooting. He apparently messaged one woman about his plans before he carried out his murders. A May 12 message asked her, “You gonna repost my gun pics?”

This suggests to me that he wanted some recognition, some notoriety. His thinking? My gun pics make me a big man. A man to be feared. A man big and tough enough to gun down small defenseless children.

The spate of mass shootings recently have gained widespread headlines. Copycats are a known phenomenon. This suggests to me that Mr. Ramos wanted the same fame he saw other mass murderers getting in the news. He became a copycat mass murderer.

Teenage Boys Seek to Prove Themselves

Teenage boys seek to prove themselves. Sociologists document that every society has a “coming of age” ceremony for boys. A bar-mitzvah in the Jewish faith. Undergoing a ritual cutting by uncles and residing in the men’s hut in some African traditions. The common element is that older men certify to the boy, “Now you are a man. Now you are accepted by older men as a man yourself.”

When a boy is fatherless or has no uncles involved in his life, he seeks to create his own validation of manhood. The catch is that he doesn’t know when he qualifies, so he keeps escalating. If an older man in his life had told Mr. Ramos, “Now you are a man. You don’t have to prove it to anybody,” maybe he would not have resorted to murdering children. We’ll never know for sure. 

In the case of Mr. Ramos, he escalated from “You gonna repost my gun pics?” to gunning down small children. How courageous. How heroic. What a way to prove you are a man. In the world of social media, it makes you famous; it gives you street cred, which is what teenagers crave.

A Sick Culture Produces Sick Individuals

Our Society is sick. Spiritually sick. Emotionally sick. Politically sick. And a sick society infects and produces sick individuals. 

Medical professionals know this is true for infectious diseases. What facility houses the most people with infections? Hospitals. Where are many infections acquired? Hospitals. This is so common that they have a name for it: nosocomial infections.  The definition of a nosocomial infection is an infection you did not have before you entered the hospital. It is an infection you picked up at the hospital. I once had a hospital surgeon once tell me, “You are doing better. We’ve got to get you out of here (the hospital) before you get an infection.”

Unfortunately, our cultural sickness has now spread to our schools, social media, and the mainstream media. To protect your family and your children, you may need to restrict their social media and their exposure to mainstream media. You may need to home school your children to remove them from the educational hospital full of sick thinking ⏤ the public school.

Root cause? A Poisonous Curriculum & Culture

One example? Critical Race Theory curriculum is being injected into every school subject: from history, geography, and science to mathematics. CRT teaches that America is evil and founded on the injustice of slavery. CRT teaches that you must hate America and feel ashamed to be an American. Result? A mindset of nihilism. Everything is bad, and there is nothing you can do to change it. You can only feel powerless, despairing, and full of rage and hate.

Those who feel despair and full of rage and hate sometimes turn to violence. They think: This world is not fair, and I’m going to leave it and take out as many others as I can as my revenge. Psychologist Jordan Peterson describes this nihilist mindset in his book Beyond Order: Twelve More Rules for Life.

If this is what you are taught in school, is it any surprise that students believe it and act on it with acts of mass murder? This is a poisonous curriculum, and it produces a poisonous culture of death. Get them out of that school if you detect any whiff of this toxic thinking being taught to your children. 

Teaching Hate is Sowing The Wind.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7.

When our schools teach this sort of nihilist despair, rage, and hate, should we be surprised when a student acts on it? These teachers are sowing the wind, and now sad parents are reaping the whirlwind of rage and violence when their children are senselessly gunned down.

The Usual Suspects & The Usual Remedies: Do the Same Thing Harder!

Predictably, the usual suspects are screaming out a chorus of demands for gun control. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, various Democrat politicians, and Pope Francis. When you research the homicide rates, they are highest in cities with the strictest gun control ⏤ Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. It is no accident that Democrat politicians run these cities.

Albert Einstein reportedly said, ”Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results.”

Democrat Marxist Politicians: “We’ve tried gun control in major cities and proved it doesn’t work, so let’s do the same thing harder all over America!” Insanity.

To Pope Francis, I say: Some bible commentaries speculate that Cain used a rock to kill his brother Abel. So, let’s outlaw rocks! No. When there is evil intent in the mind of a person, they will always find a way to kill other people. Reform the person, not the rock.

What to Do?

We all feel helpless when a senseless tragedy like this strikes. Here are a few suggestions for things to do ⏤ so that you won’t feel totally helpless. So that you can begin to do some good for your children’s future. 

> Ask your county sheriff to assign school resource deputies to each school. When murderers know there will be armed resistance, they hesitate to go there.

> Find out if your school system is teaching Critical Race Theory or its cousin Social-Emotional Learning. If they are, get your children out: to another school or home school them. You wouldn’t let them play with rat poison. Don’t let them play with CRT.

> For the teenage boys in your family or in your neighborhood:. If you are a man, coach them in neighborhood sandlot baseball games. Show them how to grip the bat. Teach them to hunt. Teach them woodworking. Teach them to paddle a canoe. Take them camping with (or without) Boy Scouts or the newer church-based Trail Life. Ask them to help you paint your tool shed. Any activity with visible results (like painting) builds a sense of accomplishment. A sense of accomplishment drives out despair. They get validation from an older man without anonymous social media. However, avoid possible #metoo accusations by always having other people present with you when you do this.

> Pray to your higher power and let your teenagers, friends, and neighbors know that you ask God for help. Asking God for strength and help shows that even manly men aren’t ashamed to ask for help. Asking for divine help is the antidote to despair and rage.

> Ask your church or synagogue to sponsor youth activities like camping, swimming lessons, horseback riding, rock climbing, building soap-box racers, and the like. More activity equals more feelings of accomplishment.

> Support and vote for political candidates who support the 2nd amendment. You must preserve your right to defend your family from murderous monsters. 

Image: AP